Welcome to 721 Live. I'm Sam Hunter. I'm glad that you're with us because we are talking about something that is so important. If you missed this, you have missed the link to the power and the life to the full that Jesus wants you to have. We've been working our way through the Book of Acts and looking at the actions of the Holy Spirit in Acts and today we'll continue with that We'll get that in just a minute. Let me remind you 721 live is the radio arm of 721 ministries and our website is www.721ministries.org That's the numbers 721 ministries.org. We're also on facebook at 721 ministries. Check us out find out more about us. We write a weekly It's on the Pudding Green, we call it, on the blog, and we have radio shows archived on the site and other things. So go there. Check us out at 721ministries.org. And today I want to talk about what might be the hardest thing that the Holy Spirit asks us to do, guides us to do, counsels us to do, the hardest thing. I'll get to that in just a minute. Let me remind you that last week we were talking about this Holy Spirit inside of you. If you've surrendered your life to Christ, the Holy Spirit is indwelling you, is living within you. You have that. Now, the question to ask is, is it a pilot light that's within you? Or have you fanned that flame to where you become a flamethrower? God asked us through Paul and 2 Timothy, fan into flame the fire that is within you. Don't quench it. Don't douse that fire. You've got a Holy Spirit fire, a dynamic power within you. And if you really are living that out, you will be a flamethrower. You will be throwing off like streams of water flowing from within, as Jesus says, bubbling over and lighting up everybody around you with Jesus' warmth, with His power, with His energy. Live it out, God is saying. Don't quench it. Don't ignore it. Live it out. When you sense those green lights that God gives us, go for it. Live that life, life to the full. Live that life of peace and joy, that life of power that Jesus promised. You know, it strikes me That if all you had ever done is read the Bible, and you'd never heard any preaching, you'd never heard any Sunday school lessons, you didn't exist in our Western church world, and then you walked into it one day, and all you'd done is read the New Testament, you'd come away saying, wait a minute, where's this Holy Spirit power? Everything you read about in the New Testament just permeates with power, just absolute Holy Spirit power is going to change everything. That's the promise. So if you've been reading that, and you're looking at it, You've realized this is what it's all about, this new life. Then you step into our world and you go, well, what happened? I don't understand. Live it out. Don't quench it by ignoring that Holy Spirit prompting inside of you. Now, sadly for so many of us, too many of us, we quench that Holy Spirit. We keep it down at just a little pilot light level just because we're too busy and we're too harried. We're too self-absorbed instead of spirit-absorbed. And we say, just get me through the day. That's what most of you are living like today. Just get me through the day. And I say that is not the A-plus life. That is not the life that Jesus promised you. He linked directly the Holy Spirit to the A-plus life that is truly life, life to the full. He linked it directly. And if you miss that, because the Holy Spirit is the link, the link. Sadly, for most of us, it's the missing link. So today, let's talk about this Holy Spirit and how we've talked about how the Holy Spirit will give us green light. Yes, go do this. Yes, I want you to make that phone call. Get involved in that. Write that check. He'll give us yellow light. Slow up. Slow up. You're moving too fast. Timing's not right yet. He'll give us flat out red light. Stop. Don't say it. Don't do it. Quit doing it. We get that. He directs us with that. He said he was going to do that. He will guide us into all truth. But there is one thing that the Holy Spirit directs us to do that is perhaps the hardest of all. I mean, I think you'll agree. It might not be a sin, although ignoring it leads to many sins. And without a doubt, ignoring it leads to a host of problems and issues. The complications we usher into our lives from ignoring this particular Holy Spirit guidance. I mean, they're so messy, these complications, but they're so easily avoidable. So what is this close to impossible to follow counsel from the Holy Spirit within? To wait. To wait. You say, what? That's it? To wait? And I will tell you, it is perhaps the hardest thing for us busy, can-do Americans, for us if-I-don't-it-won't Americans. I've got to act. I've got to jump on it. I see it all the time. I constantly encounter people who say, if they don't say it, this is what they really are living it. I must act. I must say something. I must try to control this. I must do something. I had a great friend. who was divorced and summer was coming up and he had a summer visitation for a week and if you're divorced you can appreciate this on both sides and he didn't really have anything planned for that particular week but it was just one of his weeks and his ex-wife called and said I've got something I want to take him with me to do such and such and she had something she wanted to plan for and so he calls me and said I've written a seven page letter explaining why she can't do that, and I don't want her to do that, and it's not right to do that. And thankfully, he had enough sense to say, and I've edited it down to two pages. Would you, can I send it to you? Would you read it and give me your further edits on it? So he had enough sense to say, no, don't send the seven-page letter, for crying out loud. Wait on that. I hope you can take that little bit of advice. Don't ever send something right away. Wait a day. Let somebody else look at it. So, my friend, he sends me this two-page letter, and I read it, and I call him back, and he says, okay, how much, where do you want to cut it, and where do you want to edit it? And I said, just tear it up and throw it away. What? I can't do that. I've got to make this understood, because what about next year? What if it happens? I said, next year will be next year. There'll be a whole different, and see, I would have to take this same counsel to myself. You'd have to help me with this. But I said, this letter's not going to help anything. Yeah, but I've got to. I said, no, you don't. You live in a God-saturated world. Put this in the Holy Spirit's hands. Now, I want you to just think of the complications that would have been avoided, the absolute collapse that would have been avoided if Adam had just said to Eve, OK, look, I know that fruit looks delicious. And maybe we did hear God wrong. I don't think so, but maybe we did, as the serpent says. But Eve, why don't we just wait and ask God again? Why don't we just wait and ask God again? I know it looks good, and if He says yes, then we'll jump on it. But I think He said no, and the serpent's got me kind of confused on it, I agree. But is there any reason why we can't just wait before acting? Can you imagine all the collapse that would have been avoided? Jesus was emphatic with His disciples about waiting for the Spirit's guidance and the Spirit's power. He said in Luke, at the very end of Luke, and Luke really wanted us to know this because he finishes his gospel of Luke and he starts off his letter in Acts with the same message from Jesus in Luke 24. Jesus says to his disciples, I'm going to send you what my father's promised. And that would be the Holy Spirit. I am going to send you what my father's promised. But stay, listen, stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high. He says, wait, stay. until you've received this power. Don't get ahead of yourselves. I'm with you. There's time for everything. Stay. Wait. Don't rush. And after His resurrection, Jesus said it again. He reiterated it. This is Acts right at the beginning Acts chapter 1 This is one of Jesus's first words Luke wants us to know The Holy Spirit let me correct that wants you to know and so he propelled Inspired Luke to put this in here on one occasion while he was eating with them. He gave them this command This is Jesus again. Just do not leave Jerusalem, but wait until for the gift of my Father's promise. Wait. Wait, Jesus says. Don't be in a hurry. Don't try to grab things and take it into your own hands. Wait on the Holy Spirit's guidance. Now, see, if you're listening to me, what you're really saying inside is, but I don't like to wait. I don't want to wait. I've got to act now. And in parentheses, I might say what you might really be saying is waiting means I might not get my way. Oh, is that Is that not it? Is that not it really? Let's come on now. Let's be real with each other. Listen to me. You don't like the way, I don't like the way. I want to act now and almost every time, the reason I want to act now is because I want to get my way. I might think my way is the best way, but how often do I really know that to be true? But I think it might be the best way, but the bottom line is I want to get my way. Isn't that right? Isn't that the underlying drive to act now? Many times I've felt this, I'm sure you have too. You've said, well, they need to hear my concerns. They need to hear them. Now, again, I might say parenthetically, what you're really saying is they need to hear my complaints or my corrections or my rebukes or wait a minute, listen to this, or they need to hear my superior advice. I got to keep everybody straight. See, that's what we say. If I don't act, this thing might get out of hand. And again, I might not get my way. Jesus says wait, just wait. Go back to Psalm 37. I really want to encourage you to just make a note to yourself right now. Go back and read Psalm 37, because wherever you are in life, it really does apply. If you've got things that are happening in your life that you feel like are spinning out of control, or people are coming against you, or there's something that, you know, somebody's trying to harm you or work evil against you, maybe it's a financial situation, maybe it's a relational situation, go back and read Psalm 37. If you just are one of those who feel like, I've got to act now, I've got to make sure things happen the way they're supposed to happen, go back and read Psalm 37. Verse 3. David says to us, trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Wait for the Lord and keep His way. Wait. I love this passage. Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. You know, in John 10, verses 9 through 10, Jesus says, I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved. Listen to this. They will go in and come out and find pasture. David says it. And then hundreds of years later, Jesus says it. He says, David says, trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. And Jesus says, when you when you when you put your faith in me, when you put your trust in me, when you're willing to wait, you'll go in and come out and you will find pasture. And I just want you to get that image of what they're trying to say to you, what God is saying to you. Pasture, safe, mellow, peaceful, joyful, contentment. Don't jump to act. Jesus says, God says over and over, wait, wait, wait on the Holy Spirit. Let's talk some more about that in a second after the show. More straight ahead. We'll be right back. Welcome back to the second half of 721 Live. I'm Sam Hunter. We're talking about the Holy Spirit guiding us as Jesus promised He would do. Clearly, He promised, He guaranteed that He will guide you. And one of His great counsels from the Holy Spirit, one of His great guidances is, wait, wait. Wait, don't jump into act, don't jump to say. And you might say, wait a minute, what am I waiting for? You're waiting for the Holy Spirit's clear guidance. It will come. It will come. There's no question about it. If, if, and Jesus said so many times, if, if you really want it, if you really want the Holy Spirit to guide you and you're willing to wait, he will. Do you really want that guidance? Or do you really want your way? How many decisions have you felt compelled to act on? You just had to act on it. And now looking back, you can see that it would have been so much better for everyone if you had just waited a while. Maybe while you were waiting, you would realize, you know what, I don't even need to act. Maybe God would resolve the situation, and you could watch that unfold without acting and acting and acting and reacting. How many comments have you made? How many times have you opened your mouth and said something? Of course, in your mind, you had the most sincere desire to help. I might question that, but nevertheless, how many times have you done that, that now looking back, you realize that was so utterly ineffective, at a minimum ineffective and unnecessary, And so often destructive. Better to wait. Better to wait and keep your mouth shut. And while you wait, I bet you you'll see the Lord clearly saying, you know, you don't need to say anything at all, because whatever you say is going to be destructive. It's not going to help. I, myself, Sam, am personally tempted often to take matters into my own hands, to fix it. Or I should say to fix them. But I'm seeing more and more, it's so crystal clear, just wait. Now, how many times, looking back, have you acted in your own power, without waiting, with the result being a mess? Or certainly, less than anything positive. Well, let me answer that for you. Just about every time. Because when you don't wait, you make a mess. Just wait. Just wait and watch for the Holy Spirit's guidance. You see, if you live in a God-saturated world, it's safe to wait. It's safe to wait if you see the Holy Spirit permeating your life, but if you don't, then you must act and react, and you must do it quickly if it's all up to you. If you live in a you-saturated world, if you're the king of your world, then no, you better not wait. You must be assertive and demanding and quick to act in your own self-interest if you dominate the world in which you live. But not if you live in a God-saturated world. It's safe to wait. Just wait and watch for the Holy Spirit. See, there's a reason Jesus wants us to wait on the Holy Spirit's guidance and the Holy Spirit's power. Your body is made to run on healthy foods and rest and exercise. And when you ignore that basic fact of life, you know, you suffer. Well, our spiritual lives and therefore our lives, I might put with a capital L, our real lives, are designed to run on the Holy Spirit's power and the Holy Spirit's guidance. That's the way Jesus set it up. He said, I'm leaving so this Holy Spirit can come. Ignoring this fact of life, just like ignoring the fact of life of healthy eating and rest and exercise, ignoring this one creates hurt feelings, confusion, suffering, and at best, a C minus life. But when I wait on God, and don't miss this, when I wait on God, I always see His best. Always, when I wait on God, and when I wait on the guidance and power of His Spirit within me, the result is always the best. Not sometimes, but always. I get to see His best. But when I refuse to wait, I grieve His Spirit within me. That's bad enough. I grieve lots of other people around me, and I don't leave any room to see God act. I've seen complications in hurt that take years to resolve, if ever. I've seen adults carrying resentment and pain. I've seen parents and children cross ways with each other. Heartbreaking stories over and over because of things that were said, so often things that were said or things that were done when someone could have just waited. Now the resentments and the hurt are so entrenched that I don't know how it will get unraveled. It's unforgettable. We know it can be forgiven. with the Holy Spirit's power, but it's heartbreaking. Families, marriages, over actions taken, things said, when the bottom line was really you just wanted to get your way, and you weren't willing to wait. My sister, Susan, counseled me a few years ago when I felt like I needed to do something. She said, you know, so often, so many times, we think we have to make a decision. When we really don't. We really don't. Napoleon, this is interesting, Napoleon, they say, would leave his mail unopened for three weeks. And he said by the time he opened it, most of it was already resolved. Well, waiting on the Spirit's guidance, it brings me closer to my Lord every time. It does. It brings me closer to my Heavenly Father every time. I get to see His movement. I get to hear Him. I get to see His power at work. None of which are possible when I'm acting and reacting on my own impulse. God tells us, be still and know that I am God. Psalm 4610, be still and know that I am God. Oh, to be still. Hmm. Oh, to know God. But see, then you come back and you say, but I must act. If I don't, it won't. And again, in parentheses, I won't get my way. No, be still. Wait. He'll guide you. Now, you may be in a situation where someone is acting harmfully towards you. Maybe it's a legal situation, a financial situation. Maybe it's an emotional or relational situation. And you say, I've got to act to protect myself. Or I've got to act to counter this. I've got to meet this. And David, with lots of experience, again, back to Psalm 37, he'd say, no, no you don't. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him. Do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. This is verse 7, now verse 8. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath. Do not fret, it only leads to evil. David knows what he's talking about. And he knows when he says this next statement, a little while and the wicked will be no more. Though you look for them, they will not be found. The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them. But the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming. David has had experience and he's telling you, look, it may look like they're getting ahead. It may look like they're getting advantage on you, gaining advantage on you. God's laughing at what these little puny humans think they're doing. No, you can. You live in a God-saturated world. You can wait. You know, Jesus... reinforces what I consider to be this impractical counsel that's waiting in this must-do world that we live in. He reinforces it. He says, don't worry. Matthew 6. This is for me. You don't need to worry. You don't need to worry. For the pagans run after all these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them, but wait. Wait and seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Don't run after all these things. Don't chase after them. The pagans run after all these things. Notice Jesus didn't say the horrible sinners run after all these things. No, He said the pagans run after. Pagans are people who don't know God. They're scurrying around. They're reacting and acting. They're running, not waiting. They're jumping. They're busy. They're harried. I was a pagan for a long time. I want to know God, so I'm going to wait. I've watched business situations where a friend of mine was working himself to the bone, and he was doing it because he felt like he needed to stay ahead of his competition, and a godly friend gave him the advice, maybe you could cut back to just a normal eight-and-a-half-hour day. Not asking him to work four hours a day, just an eight-and-a-half-hour day, and see what God does. He wasn't saying go sit in a closet or don't put forth an effort. Work a normal day, but don't work ten hours. And there may be seasons, but don't work 10 hours every day. Step back and give God a little room because you're not giving God any opportunity to show you what He can do when you won't wait. Now you might say to me, you're out of touch with reality, Sam. You're out of touch with reality. No one can operate in this world, run a business, run a busy family. Nobody can do that with this approach. This is ridiculous. And I would say to you, that's because you don't trust God. And I would say to you, that's because you don't live, you don't see that you live in a God-saturated world where the Holy Spirit is permeating every action that's taking place around you. If you say to me, this is ridiculous, then I would just gently but firmly remind you, Jesus didn't think it was. He said, wait, don't get in the way of yourself. See, this is not about waiting on God to do for you. No, it's about waiting on God to guide you. He's not saying, do nothing and I'll take care of everything for you. In fact, God tells us in Philippians 2, 12, do your part, but then watch what I do. Yes, I agree. There'll be times when you have to act quickly. That's true. There's no doubt about it. And at these times, we trust God to guide us even as we act quickly. But come on. Come on now. We both know. You know as well as I. That's about 5% of the time. That's about 5% of the time when you really have to act quickly. Or not waiting because we want to act quickly to get our way. That's 95% of the time. Reverse that. Because see, when I am still, I hear God saying to me, wait and delight yourself in the Lord while you're waiting, and I will give you the desires of your heart. That's back to Psalm 37, delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. But he's saying in that implicitly, wait and while you're waiting, delight yourself in the Lord and watch for his best. See, it's safe to wait if you live in a God saturated world. It's safe to wait if you see the Holy Spirit permeating your life. But if you don't, then you must act, and you must react, and it's quickly, and it's all up to you, and you live in a God-saturated world, and you've got to be assertive and demanding, and all of this. But not if you live in a God-saturated world. Not if you see this Holy Spirit promised to you, guaranteed to you by Jesus to give you the power, to give you the guidance. Wait on the guidance from the Holy Spirit. Wait on Him to show you the way. Wait on Him to unravel these situations. You won't believe how effectively He'll do it and how you'll see, oh, if I'd have just said that or if I'd have done that, I would have messed it up. I would have added complications. I would have added hurt that would have taken years to resolve. Wait on the Holy Spirit. Wait on that guidance. It's a beautiful thing to do that. You'll see God move. You'll sense His presence. You'll sense His power. This is Sam Hunter. This is 721 Live. So long. God's peace to you. I hope to see you next Friday.